The Art Bar Studio Tour 06_2013

I want to share this tour with you of the Art Bar in Santa Ana, California.  I had the pleasure of visiting this fabulous studio (with my mouth hanging open) last summer when I took Dina Wakley's class at Jenny Doh's studio.  (Is that enough name dropping already?) 

At the lunch break, I wandered over to Subway where two more students wandered in and we started to chat.  They invited me to walk around the art village with them and to this day I'm forever thankful.  I never would have known that the Santora building we were in was hiding so many secrets!  It was magic for me.

I had my camera with me but the lighting was so low that none of the video I took turned out well.  So I was thrilled to see this video tour.  It's such a great place!

A Tale of Two Journals - Part II

Here she is....Journal #2! So completely different from the first one but I love her just the same! Isn't that cover gorgeous? The cover got to me just like the first one did.

This journal was made by Les Herger over at Comfortable Shoes Studio and the original Art Journaling Ning site.

With almost 250 pages I was stunned when it was delivered! It's HUGE! OMG, it's a big fat journal and I don't write that much! What on earth am I going to do?!

I started writing in it immediately, thinking I could get into the habit of journaling a little bit every day. That was the plan. Then I realized I had all those ICAD cards and no place to put them. So I put them here. Theres a lot more than this but you get the idea.

That was fun, and I used a lot of pages!

Then my niece came to town. I did some more journaling and took a family picture...

And now I'm on a roll...

I'm decorating. I'm stamping pages. Sticking goodies here and there. Mod podging patterned tissue paper onto the pages. Very cool images on Tim Holtz tissue! I stamped a two page spread full of stamps and colored them in, (still working on this page). Watch Roxyfur's video on this and you'll be doing the same thing! Oh, wait, let me get it for you, it's so much fun!

I love this journal!

A Tale of Two Journals - Part I

Isn't she the cutest? I love this book! Absolutely LOVE it! The minute I saw this book, I wanted it. I think I would have cried if anyone else got it. But I have it and I'm so happy that I do! Maybe it's the peasant dress, and the big clunky shoes, but I sure identify with the girl on the cover. I had a dress like that, shoes like that, hair like that (well, almost like that). I was in my 20's and dancing up a storm with my friends, totally oblivious to anything that wasn't "fun".

This adorable mixed media journal was made by Yolanda Pasillas. The projects Yolie comes up with are all so unique and special that her swaps at YPP are always filled. But you need to watch Yolie's videos about this book to see how fabulous it is. To see all the goodies she's included inside. The goodies I ohhh and ahhh over every time I look at it.

I heard Yolie was thinking about opening an Etsy shop so keep an eye out for that. She makes everything with Love!

Video Part I Video Part II

28 Days of ICAD

I absolutely have to make that 30 days because I know I'm not going to make 61! My niece is flying in from Philadelphia with two of her sons, her oldest one is already here, stationed at Camp Pendleton. I won't be getting much of anything done for the next week...and I didn't!

I made it through 28 days! I wish I could have started up again but the forward momentum I had totally disappeared. I thoroughly enjoyed having my niece here though so it was worth losing a little steam. Maybe next year I'll make 61 days.

ICAD

I'm still trying to keep up with ICAD!

Gelli Plate Madness

It seems like everyone has jumped on the gelli plate bandwagon. Not that I blame them, I've seen some gorgeous stuff come off those plates! But it's too much work for me. I tend to whine if I have to reach too far for something, or learn another new trick that I'll forget before the paint is dry. I'm just trying to maintain the brain cells that I have left. I can't afford to confuse them at this stage.

Besides, if you're lucky enough to know someone who just happens to be the Gelli Plate Queen, you might end up with a sample of their beautiful work! These are envelopes with notecards that Patti Tolley Parrish sent to me, aren't they adorable? Looking at this stuff online and seeing it in person is like two different worlds. No comparison! Yesterday, I watched a video where Patti was using her gelli pad with clear tape. I was stunned with the results she got. Absolutely beautiful color!

She made me want a gelli plate.

Visit Patti's blog at Inky Obsessions

YouTube - Patti Parrish

ICAD

I mentioned in another post that I've started ICAD. It's a little thing that pops up every year from Daisy Yellow, called Index Card A Day, (ICAD - get it?) Every day for two months (2 months? holy cow!), you create art on an index card. Then you share it with all the other ICAD people on the internet at the Daisy Yellow site or Facebook page. Believe it or not, it's fun! It's amazing to see what can be created on a little 3 x 5 index card.

I thought I'd share a few here each week for your viewing pleasure.